The number of practicing pediatric hospitalists is estimated to be approximately 2,500 and rapidly increasing. Furthermore, at least ten fellowships dedicated to advanced training in pediatric hospital medicine have been developed at academic institutions across North America. Despite this growth, there has been an absence of an accepted and peer-reviewed framework for professional and curriculum development. Until now . . ..

The Pediatric Hospital Medicine Core Competencies, published online in April 20010 as a Supplement of the Journal of Hospital Medicine, is a blueprint to develop standardized curricula for teaching Pediatric Hospital Medicine in medical school, post-graduate (i.e., residency, fellowship), and continuing medical education programs. The competencies standardize expected learning outcomes, but leave it to the curriculum developers and content experts to select instructional strategies, provide relevancy of context, and select the most relevant and up to date medical content.

The book contains 54 chapters, divided into four sections: Common Clinical Diagnoses and Conditions, Specialized Clinical Services, Core Skills, and Healthcare Systems: Supporting and Advancing Child Health.

Although the entire document can be a resource for comprehensive program development, each chapter is intended to stand alone and thus support curriculum development specific to the needs of individual programs. In addition, an attempt has been made to make the objectives outlined in each chapter "timeless", allowing for creation of curriculum that can be nimble and reactive to new discoveries.